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Initial results from the Honduran general election indicate a close race, with the two leading presidential candidates in a “technical tie,” according to the country’s electoral authority.
Ana Paola Hall, President of the National Electoral Council (CNE), reported on X that right-wing candidate Nasry Asfura is leading former TV host Salvador Nasralla by a margin of just 515 votes.
Hall urged “patience and prudence,” noting that the manual count of ballots is ongoing.
The close contest unfolds amid rising tensions fueled by delays in the release of election results. The CNE website’s outage has further amplified public concerns regarding potential issues with the vote count.
Asfura has garnered support from former U.S. President Donald Trump, who previously threatened to cut financial aid to Honduras if his preferred candidate did not prevail.
Outgoing President Xiomara Castro of the left-wing Libre party, constitutionally barred from seeking a second term, endorsed Rixi Moncada.
With 6.5 million registered voters, officials anticipated strong voter turnout; however, official figures have not yet been released.
While many Hondurans anticipated a complex election, the razor-thin margin has surprised observers.
The CNE website’s collapse, apparently due to high traffic, exacerbated voters’ anxieties about the integrity of the count.
Concerns are mounting over a potentially protracted period of uncertainty or legal challenges, should the results remain this close.
Ahead of casting their ballots, voters at a farmers’ market in Tegucigalpa expressed their desire for change.
“People must vote based on the reality in front of us, and not stay blindly loyal to any party colors,” said walnut vendor Nicole Castillo, stressing the need to acknowledge entrenched corruption in Honduran politics.
Nolvy Oriales, a cheese counter owner, cited stamping out corruption and cronyism as her primary motivation for voting.
“I think we need to try someone new, someone who hasn’t been in power before, because these last few years have been very, very tough,” she commented.
For many, Nasralla of the Liberal Party, presenting himself as the candidate to end corruption, represents a fresh start.
Despite serving as vice-president alongside Xiomara Castro, their relationship soured, leading to his resignation. He is widely recognized as a former television sports presenter.
Asfura, the candidate favored by Trump, represented another option for voters seeking a departure from the governing Libre party.
Trump stated on his Truth Social platform Friday that the U.S. would be “very supportive” if Asfura won the election.
“If he doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad, because a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results to a country, no matter which country it is,” Trump added.
The former U.S. president’s last-minute intervention sparked anger as Hondurans headed to the polls.
Infrastructure and Transport Minister Octavio Pineda told the BBC while casting his ballot in Tegucigalpa that Trump’s social media posts amounted to meddling.
“It’s totally electoral interference by the US president and we have publicly denounced it as such. We heard his words, but we don’t share his views.”
In a controversial social media post, Trump also promised to pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, currently serving a 45-year sentence in the U.S. for drug and weapons trafficking.
“Remember, it wasn’t even the Honduran justice system which tried and sentenced our ex-president for drug trafficking. It was the US Attorney General’s office itself,” Minister Pineda pointed out.
Meanwhile, Asfura has sought to distance himself from Hernández.
He told AFP Friday that he has “no ties” with the ex-president and that “the party is not responsible for his personal actions.”
For now, the vote count continues, and tension in Honduras is escalating.
Memories remain of street violence following the disputed 2017 election, when Juan Orlando Hernández claimed victory in a vote count questioned by international observers and the Organization of American States (OAS).
Clashes between protesters and police resulted in at least 20 deaths.
No one desires a repeat of those dark days, and hopes persist for calm to prevail.
However, some shop owners have reportedly boarded up their businesses, and some employees are staying home from work, awaiting the outcome of the vote count and the announcement of the president-elect.
Juan Orlando Hernández was sentenced in the US to 45 years behind bars for conspiring to smuggle cocaine.
Uganda and Honduras have agreed to accept migrants of other nationalities who have been deported from the US, CBS reports.
A group of young environmentalists in Honduras are turning used cooking oil into soap and dog food.
It was the first government-chartered flight under a programme offering free travel and $1,000 to immigrants in the US illegally.
Officials who took part in the emergency operations said that five people were rescued.
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